This is a brief guide to some of the key aspects of duck keeping. There are many guides and starter books for duck keepers available, and these should be consulted before you go ahead and purchase your ducks.

The topics below contain hints, tips, and opinions, and should be read and followed with caution!

A healthy duck will; Have sleek plumage and bright eyes. It wont like being picked up and will try to evade capture. It will eat almost anything it can find. Worms are a common health problem for Ducks. A good precaution is to use a worming treatment twice a year, as a preventative measure, but the treatment will probably need to be used multiple times to eradicate severe worm problems. You should consult your vet for a suitable product, and be careful when using it as it may be harmful to humans. Ducks suffering from worm infestation may exhibit a shaking of the head, blood in their faeces, lameness, and coughing. They may also become underweight. To prevent infection you should keep the grass in the ducks run short, keep food and water bowls clean, give the ducks as large a run as a possible, move the run to different parts of your garden if possible, and ensure any kitchen scraps fed to the ducks are fresh. Wet Feather is another Common problem amongst Domestic Ducks. Normally a Ducks feathers are waterproof, when a duck becomes saturated with water and cant recover its plumage it is said to have wet feather. This condition is supposedly caused by several factors. Ensure your ducks have plentiful access to bathing water. Ensure they have wheat grain in their diet as well as standard pellets, allow your ducks to roam over as wide an area as possible, so they can supplement their diet by foraging. Ensure they are not afflicted by Ecto-Paraites which cause a duck to over preen itself, which can cause wet feather (consult your vet for treatment). The exact causes and remedies for wet feather are still under debate by the Duck keeping community. Bumble foot; this condition refers to a swelling of a ducks foot pads, it is generally caused by dirty conditions, combined with areas of abrasive ground in a ducks run or Coop. This should not be an issue if the above advice is followed.